Five Things from Tequila Tasting
May. 8th, 2024 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerLos Cabos Travelog #8½
Downtown Los Cabos - Sun, 5 May 2024, 1pm
I split this journal entry out from the previous one because it was getting too long. At the tequila tasting I did today, Luis was so helpful and so generous in spending time with me (plus he was drinking shots with me, so he got some benefit there too) that I learned a lot about tequila and related liquors. Here are Five Things:
1) Tequila is made only from blue agave.
This basic of tequila labeling I knew already; that to be called tequila it has to come 51% or more from the blue agave plant. The best tequilas are generally 100% blue agave. But there are about 40 different varieties of agave, and there are other agave-based drinks made from them. They're just not called tequila.
2) The different kinds of tequila, by age
I had pretty much already figured this out from learning by osmosis, but tequilas are classified by the amount of time they're aged in barrels.
Cristalino is heavily marketed as a premium tequila. It's actually just tequila blanco, the least expensive and least sophisticated tequila to produce, run through extra filtering to remote the sharp flavors of the blue agave. Filtering out the flavor filters out the character, though. It's a marketing trap for fools. I'll admit I fell for it, one time. As I sipped my way through the bottle I thought, "Why did I pay $60 (which was a big discount, BTW) for a bottle of flavorless liquor?" That's the power of marketing.
4) Tequila shots are for losers who think drinking cheap tequila is classy.
This is another thing I'd figured out through osmosis and practice. Pounding tequila shots, slamming them down the back of your throat to skip the flavor and boast about feeling the burn, is something you do with cheap tequila. Good tequila has delicious flavors you should savor.
5) Other agave drinks
The most well known tequila-like liquor that's not tequila is probably mezcal. Mezcal has become popular in the US in recent years. It's made from different types of agave than the blue agave plant and it's distilled in underground pots. One characteristic of the underground distillation process is that the smoke generated from boiling the pot is retained in the system. It infuses the liquor with a naturally smoky taste. When I've tried mezcal in the US I've found the smoky flavor overpowering and unpleasant. Luis brushed this off as being a trait of poor mezcal. The example he poured for me had a smoky flavor that was well under control. I still didn't/don't like it as much as blue agave tequila but it's at least fair enough that I wouldn't pour the drink out after taking one sip.
Downtown Los Cabos - Sun, 5 May 2024, 1pm
I split this journal entry out from the previous one because it was getting too long. At the tequila tasting I did today, Luis was so helpful and so generous in spending time with me (plus he was drinking shots with me, so he got some benefit there too) that I learned a lot about tequila and related liquors. Here are Five Things:
1) Tequila is made only from blue agave.
This basic of tequila labeling I knew already; that to be called tequila it has to come 51% or more from the blue agave plant. The best tequilas are generally 100% blue agave. But there are about 40 different varieties of agave, and there are other agave-based drinks made from them. They're just not called tequila.
2) The different kinds of tequila, by age
I had pretty much already figured this out from learning by osmosis, but tequilas are classified by the amount of time they're aged in barrels.
- Blanco is the youngest tequila, bottled without barrel aging. It has a clear color and the sharp taste of the blue agave.
- Reposado, or "rested", is aged 1-11 months, picking up a pale yellow color and some sweeter flavors from oak barrels.
- Añejo, meaning "aged" or "old", is aged 1-3 years. It has a darker color and even stronger sweet flavors.
- Extra añejo is aged 3 years or more. It often comes out very dark and strongly flavored.
- There are other designations such joven (meaning "young"), which is a mixture of reposado and blanco. There are also tequila-based liquors, like a coffee flavored cordial I tried, which can't be labelled as tequila because they contain less than 51% blue agave. Then there's cristalino....
Cristalino is heavily marketed as a premium tequila. It's actually just tequila blanco, the least expensive and least sophisticated tequila to produce, run through extra filtering to remote the sharp flavors of the blue agave. Filtering out the flavor filters out the character, though. It's a marketing trap for fools. I'll admit I fell for it, one time. As I sipped my way through the bottle I thought, "Why did I pay $60 (which was a big discount, BTW) for a bottle of flavorless liquor?" That's the power of marketing.
4) Tequila shots are for losers who think drinking cheap tequila is classy.
This is another thing I'd figured out through osmosis and practice. Pounding tequila shots, slamming them down the back of your throat to skip the flavor and boast about feeling the burn, is something you do with cheap tequila. Good tequila has delicious flavors you should savor.
5) Other agave drinks
The most well known tequila-like liquor that's not tequila is probably mezcal. Mezcal has become popular in the US in recent years. It's made from different types of agave than the blue agave plant and it's distilled in underground pots. One characteristic of the underground distillation process is that the smoke generated from boiling the pot is retained in the system. It infuses the liquor with a naturally smoky taste. When I've tried mezcal in the US I've found the smoky flavor overpowering and unpleasant. Luis brushed this off as being a trait of poor mezcal. The example he poured for me had a smoky flavor that was well under control. I still didn't/don't like it as much as blue agave tequila but it's at least fair enough that I wouldn't pour the drink out after taking one sip.
